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1 Year of Yolanda Disaster, Stormy Year of Injustices
Groups launch 8 Days of Actions in time for Yolanda Disaster Commemoration

Manila, Philippines – In the lead up to the first year commemoration of the Yolanda disaster, the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), with its members and allies, comes up with its assessment on government’s handling of the Yolanda disaster, from preparation, response and rehabilitation.

“From the very start, the Aquino Administration has failed miserably! By saying that it is ‘under control’ which is contrary to its government’s level of preparedness was, in a way, already a death wish to all who perished when Yolanda struck Central Visayas. To sum up, the Aquino government was over-confidently, inappropriately prepared.” Gerry Arances, National Coordinator of PMCJ lamented.

The groups have lined up series of actions, highlighting the many injustices that the Yolanda victims and survivors have incurred, in the lead up…

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UNICEF Ambassador and NBA superstar Pau Gasol congratulates the Philippines, UNICEF and humanitarian agencies for their efforts in helping children and families affected by Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda).However, much more needs to be done one year after the typhoon.

After a year of recovery of our countrymen, Pau Gasol continues to support the victim of the typhoon haiyan. Last year he donated $1,000 every scores he made, all in all he score 24 points the whole game equivalent to $24,000.

Here is a short video message from the UNICEF ambassador and NBA Superstar Pau Gasol.

“Charity is just writing checks and not being engaged. Philanthropy, to me, is being engaged, not only with your resources but getting people and yourself really involved and doing things that haven’t been done before.” Eli Broad

By Alex P. Vidal

CONCEPCION, Iloilo – Almost a year after the super-typhoon Yolanda devastation, elementary pupils at the Borres-Canong Elementary School in Brgy. Batiti here received early Christmas gifts from a balikbayan member of the Borres-Canong clan October 27.
School principal Ruviespiere Tupas said his pupils, from pre-school to grade 6, received more than 200 sets of school bags containing school supplies and hamburgers from a popular burger store in Iloilo City, from Chicago-based philanthropist Rhea Borres-Canong, who was assisted by Ulanie Salinas Lataquin, Nic Lataquin, and Cathy Borres. Tupas, eight school teachers led by Leah Z. Declaro and village chief Melvin Obillos witnessed the distribution in a brief program inside the…

It’s been just under a year since Typhoon Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, ravaged the island nation, leaving 6,200 bodies and a long list of sick, injured and missing in its wake.

These past 11 months, while the news cycle has turned from Ukraine to the winter Olympics to terrorism in the Middle East, millions of Filipinos have simply been putting one foot in front of the other, one day at a time, in their still-devastated country.

In June, Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains Carolin and Desi Perez left the comforts of their house in Oklahoma to begin a five-month deployment to the Philippines. At that time, seven months had passed since the Nov. 8 typhoon made landfall, with sustained winds of 195 mph. (By comparison, Hurricane Katrina’s sustained wind speed topped out at 125 mph when it slammed into Louisiana.)

“When you land at the airport, driving along the coastal area, there’s devastation all around you,” Carolin said. “Boats up on the roads. Ships, huge ships, that haven’t been moved yet. People living in aluminum framed shacks. It just looks like a bomb went off.”

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Even now, four months into their deployment, Carolin and Desi still see upheaval. Many people don’t have running water. Food and adequate shelter are also lacking.

“There are still a lot of people with no roof on their house,” Carolin said. “A lot of houses have temporary tarps that Samaritan’s Purse provided.”

“You’ll see little girls and boys bathing in a mud puddle,” Desi added “And in the States, sometimes we’re complaining that our shower is too small. I don’t have this, I don’t have that.”

At the invitation of local churches, the two crisis-trained chaplains have been traveling to cities and villages, helping overwhelmed pastors however they can. Earlier this week, Carolin and Desi held their fourth Grief in Crisis training in the city of Ormoc, Leyte Province, which was flattened during the typhoon. They worked with 42 pastors hoping to learn about how to best serve the hurting people of their community.

Boats and even massive ships like this one have yet to be removed nearly a year after the typhoon hit.
“Our goal has been to come alongside the pastors and provide them with encouragement and to be able to tell them that they’re not alone,” Carolin said. “It’s been amazing to see how much it’s meant to them, just to know that someone cares.”

The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team—which has deployed to more than 220 disasters since 2002—arrived in the Philippines in May. Chaplains Barb and Leo Grabowski from Charlotte, North Carolina spent two months sharing the hope of Christ with pastors and other residents before Carolin and Desi took over. Altogether, the chaplains have prayed with 1,275 people in the country.

They’ve rejoiced over miracles—like the way God protected a group of six people, including a pregnant woman, who survived the flooding by clinging to a floating wooden door.

And they’ve cried over devastating sorrow—weeping with a young pastor who lost his wife and both of his young daughters to the powerful storm. Even after an unimaginable loss, he’s still praising God.

Church members stand next to “the miracle door” that allowed six people to survive the flood. It’s now the front door of their church.
“Our brothers and sisters here in the Philippines are people of great faith,” Carolin said. “They really depend upon God as their resource for everything, and they pray believing that God hears their prayers and is going to answer their prayers.”

Desi and Carolin know God answered in the affirmative when a Filipino pastor repeatedly prayed for her nephew to accept Jesus as his Savior. After losing his wife and son in a motorcycle accident and then living through the typhoon, he was going down the wrong path—using drugs and getting in with the wrong crowd, despite having a young daughter.

At the request of the man’s aunt and other relatives, the chaplains paid him a visit.

“Desi and I shared the Gospel with him,” Carolin said. “And he accepted Christ on the spot.”

Despite having two pastors in the family, his relatives laughed and praised God for sending a couple from the other side of the world to lead him to the Lord.

“He’s now serving in the church, returning to school and he’s working to turn his life around,” Carolin said.

Carolin and Desi have organized youth events for Filipino children. They’ve found that many of the kids enjoy playing Bingo! and checkers.
And that’s just one of many answered prayers—a snapshot of God’s goodness in the midst of crisis.

As they prepare to return to Oklahoma next month, Carolin and Desi hope believers in the U.S. and around the world will not forget to support the Filipino people. They’re excited about the Will Graham Celebration scheduled to take place in Tacloban next March, and they’re praying for God to continue to move powerfully across the Philippines.

“It’s so important that we keep praying for our brothers and sisters here,” Carolin said. “People are seeking answers, seeking a hope. As a result of the magnitude of Yolanda, we believe that a revival is happening here.

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I’m almost at the end of the stories of beneficiaries we helped in August.

At the point where I had allocated almost all of the donations, we had a family trip to Belen Farm – a place a good two hour drive away that is well known to Jackie’s family – they used to spend their holidays there as children. I hired a van and Jackie’s mum, most of Jackie’s siblings, their partners and a niece all piled in for the road trip!

A local gasoline store!

The area we went to was as different to Tacloban as you can get – it seemed sparsely populated and very green. The area was not affected by the storm surge as it is so far away, but buildings were decimated by the winds.

The temporary classrooms in the local school. This one held a class of 52 children

Yolanda-hit villages declared as first ‘Zero Open Defecation’ barangays in Leyte

Western Leyte, Philippines (27 September 2014) – Today 7 Yolanda-hit barangays across 3 municipalities around Ormoc have been declared as first in the entire Leyte province to eradicate defecation in public– a practice known to cause contamination of water sources and diarrheal diseases.

The declaration came after an authorized government body, including hygiene specialists and international organizations, certified the remote barangays of Bulak, Masaba, and San Dionesio in Matag-ob town; Payao in Villaba town; and San Ignacio, Santa Domingo and Libertad in Kananga town as the first Zero Open Defecation (ZOD) barangays in the province of Leyte. To achieve ZOD status, each household in a barangay should have access to toilet and water supply. The recognition was a big feat given that 70% of people in these communities did not have access to toilets immediately after the super typhoon.

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STORIES OF HEROISM

It was November 8, 2013. The day when the Filipinos’ courage and strength were put to test. A super typhoon named Haiyan (locally known as “Yolanda”) struck Central Visayas creating a 25-foot tidal wave. In one clean swoop, Yolanda obliterated the coastal areas where it made landfall on Friday, November 8. More than 11 million people were displaced or rendered homeless. Tacloban City, the capital of the province of Leyte was hit the hardest.

Indeed, Yolanda had come to be known as the strongest typhoon in recorded history. It was 3.5 times worse than Hurricane Katrina, which had devastated New Orleans in August 2005 and claimed the lives of more than 1,800 Americans. By comparison, Philippine government figures show that Yolanda left in her wake more than 6,300 people dead.

This blog is not about the typhoon and the devastation of the areas affected, but about the PEOPLE who came in rescue, and those who inspired others to help one another. This blog is about the modern-day HEROES created by Typhoon Yolanda.

Come join me in telling the stories of heroism, and inspiration.

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